Saturday, February 7, 2015

On Wednesday I drove for a couple of hours over to the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, to an area I'd never been before called the Awhitu Peninsula.

It was a cloudy grey day, warm and muggy, but still a great day out!

One reason for going was to visit the lighthouse at Manukau Heads, where the

Manukau Harbour opens into the Tasman Sea. I love lighthouses.

Sadly this one is a replica of the real one, taken from the original drawings and plans.

It's also at a different spot (the old position was too dangerous),

but the bonus is that you can actually climb up inside, and walk around

the outside balcony, where the keepers would have walked.

This is looking down at the heads - you can see the beginnings of the notorious Manukau Bar, where many ships and small boats have come to grief; it was the site of our worst maritime disaster in 1863, when HMS Orpheus ran aground on the Manukau Bar and sank with the loss of 189 lives.

Looking the other way, you can see the road in to the lighthouse, with evidence

Saturday, January 31, 2015

If you weren't born in a country which was once, or is still, part of the British Commonwealth,

you won't get it. Trust me.

The World Cup is about to be played in Australia and New Zealand - we're sharing the running of the tournament...

We're not going to share winning it, though! It's all ours.

There are about 12 days to go before the teams from 14 countries begin the competition,

which will take a month to complete.

I love cricket, especially the one-day form of it, which is what these games will be. Mr A was a pretty mean spin bowler in his day - he played Minor County cricket in England, quite a few years ago now, and then played 1st class cricket in Sydney and New Zealand - so he'll be pretty much glued to the television.

For the last few weeks, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have both been visiting for practice games: